Trump tweeted Monday: “I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words. The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!”

At a recent round table meeting of business executives, & long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words. The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!

Trump made the comment last week, at a White House business roundtable on workforce changes.

“We’re going to be opening up the labor forces because we have to. We have so many companies coming in,” Trump said. “People like Tim — you’re expanding all over and doing things that I really wanted you to do right from the beginning. I used to say, ‘Tim, you gotta start doing it here,’ and you really have, you’ve really put a big investment in our country. We really appreciate it very much, Tim Apple.”

At a dinner for Republican National Committee donors Friday at his Florida club, Trump complained that his “Tim Apple” flub was “fake news,” said a person who heard them and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Trump’s remarks. Trump’s complaint was first reported by Axios.